Minnesota the number one turkey producing state in the nation, and he, along with his two sons, Dean and Jim, accomplished that goal.
During this time in Dean’s life, his first wife, Peggy, became seriously ill and was told by the medical professionals that there was no more they could do for her. Following a recommendation of a friend, she turned to a Christian Science practitioner for help. They were Methodist at the time and this was a whole new adventure for them. However, after a few visits she was completely and permanently healed.
This life changing experience created many questions for Dean. He wanted to know how prayer heals, and if this healing capability is a function of a certain religion or is it the result of some truth or principle that can be utilized by other religious faiths? Or, does it have anything to do with religion? Could it be related to some law of nature or essence of spirituality, that when understood is available to everyone?
These questions led Dean to a realization that agriculture was really not fulfilling his purpose in life. He left the family business and joined his wife in becoming a Christian Science practitioner. Shortly thereafter, the pursuit for the answers to his questions led him back to school at National Christian University, with a whole new focus. Here he studied Comparative Religions. He wanted to know how so many religions stemmed from a relatively few sacred writings. He also wanted to know if there could be a common denominator that could be found in all sacred writings.
He felt that he discovered some very simple truths that are found within nearly all sacred writings, and when utilized today, are just as effective as they were when they were written thousands of years ago. He received a Doctorate of Theology (Th.D.) as a result of these studies.
Dr. Portinga came to the realization that there is a marked difference between religion and spirituality. This led him to pursue an additional Ph.D. in clinical and industrial psychology. He was also ordained a minister in Christian philosophy by Dr. Raymond Holliwell. This opened up a whole new field of understanding for him as he came to recognize that intuition is a spiritual quality that comes from silence. As the Bible says, “Peace be still and know”.
During this time Dr. Portinga was in private practice in St. Louis Missouri, where he worked with individuals and corporations all around the world. He helped them redefine their visions, goals and purpose, and used his new found knowledge to help them be more successful in all aspects of their individual and corporate lives.
The mid-seventies brought a different experience to Dean. He returned back to the family poultry business and helped his brother merge their family business with a Chicago-based conglomerate called Cortera Corp. He then served as an officer and sat of their board of directors. This was an excellent opportunity for him to apply the principles he had been studying and helping others with in a real world business experience.
After a very successful experience in the business world, Dean resigned from the Cortara Corp to pursue a different path in consulting and public speaking.
At this point Dean and his first wife decided they were going in different directions on their spiritual journey and ended their marriage.
Shortly thereafter, Dean met a very special woman who possessed an exceptional spiritual awareness. This touched Dean deeply. Her name was Bobbie Stevens, and at their first meeting at a spiritual retreat she said to him, “It’s obvious that you are in a transition period now. If you had a magic wand and knew you could create the ideal life for yourself what would you want?” Dean stumbled. He had already been on a spiritual path for over twenty years, yet a quick answer eluded him.
Sometime later, after much deliberation, he told her that if he could create the idea job for himself he would like to have a sizable amount of money at his disposal to do research into how thought and consciousness affects all aspects of life, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. He, then quickly qualified his response by saying, “but such a job doesn’t exist”. Bobbie calmed his doubt with these few words, “It will when we create it”.
This meeting led to the most fantastic marriage either of them ever dreamed possible. They have now been married and working together for 30 years.
Shortly thereafter Dean was talking to a large group of CEO’s in Houston Texas on creativity in business when Bobbie suggested that he tell them about tapping into Universal Intelligence. This sparked the interest of the vice president of research and development for the Warehouser Corporation. He wanted to know how becoming quiet and going within could supply answers to running their business. Bobbie and Dean had some answers and Unlimited Futures was born. (Unlimited Futures is an organization devoted to the development of human potential, led by Dr. Bobbie Stevens)
Remember Dean’s answer to Bobbie’s question about creating your idea job? As a result of their meeting with the Warehouser Corp, Dean was looking for CEOs who considered intuition to be a differentiating factor in their success, when he met a man named Lynn Charlson, who is believed to be the father of fluid hydraulics. Mr. Charlson had just sold his engineering company and wanted to create a foundation to do research into how thought and consciousness affects all aspects of life, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual, and he asked Dean to be the director of his Charlson Research Foundation. Dean was the director of this nonprofit research foundation for seven years. He now believes Bobbie when she says we can create it.
During this time the Foundation spearheaded some hard core research in neuropeptides, structured water, the response of plants to a gardener’s thoughts, the power of intuitive healers, identifying energy as it relates to thoughts and establishing scientific proof for the world of metaphysics, and more.
In 1986 Dean left the Foundation to devote his full time to working with his wife, Bobbie, in her company Unlimited Futures, and building the foundation for his company Spiritual Insights.
